BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: POST-SHIPMENT END-USE CHECK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001275 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR PM/DTCC - BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CA ETTC KOMC SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: POST-SHIPMENT END-USE CHECK ON LICENSE 050096269 REF: STATE 71696 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Per reftel, Consulates General Vancouver and Montreal investigated Astro Global Trading (AGT) and DSP Electronics, respectively, regarding the disposition of two cylinder assembly components for the Pilatus aircraft exported under application 050096269. The owner of AGT -- Salar Soufizadeh -- confirmed that he received the two cylinder assembly components, but claimed that he later threw them away. Soufizadeh says he cannot substantiate the components, final disposition. Congen Montreal was unable to confirm that DSP Electronics -- identified as the end user for the aircraft components -- is located at the Montreal address cited in reftel or whether DSP Electronics received the components. End summary. Congen Vancouver Inquiries at AGT -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Congen Vancouver Vice Consul and Consulate,s locally engaged fraud prevention investigator visited AGT in late August. Located at 602 St. Andrews Road, West Vancouver, AGT appears to be a one-man operation run out of the den of Salar Soufizadeh's multi-million dollar home in an affluent neighborhood. Soufizadeh told the Consulate officials that he had received the cylinder assembly components, which arrived via UPS in a 10 centimeter square box. Soufizadeh confirmed that the cylinders were worth over USD 6,000 each. ¶3. (SBU) Soufizadeh stated that the intended end user for the two cylinder assembly components had been Mehid Fahdi, whom Soufizadeh says he met while living in Dubai. According to Soufizadeh, Fahdi wanted the cylinders for research purposes at a university in the province of Quebec. Soufizadeh did not identify the university. Soufizadeh stated that he ordered the aircraft orders for Fahdi because Fahdi lacked enough trader's credit to purchase the aircraft components directly and used Soufizadeh as a middleman. Soufizadeh stated that he had placed an initial order for the components in early 2007, but said the components had not been shipped from the United States because he could not confirm the end-user. Soufizadeh said a second order (application 050096269) for the components was received in April 2008. Soufizaded stated that he eventually threw the two cylinders into a garbage can because he did not receive an end-user verification for the cylinders. ¶4. (SBU) In an possible contradiction of his claim of having thrown the cylinders into the garbage, Soufizadeh stated that he could not show any receipts or confirmation that he had shipped the cylinders to Montreal because his office had been raided recently by the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA), which allegedly seized all his business documentation. (Comment: CBSA confirmed to Congen,s ICE assistant attach that it did raid Soufizadeh,s office, but declined to provide further details. End comment) Soufizadeh said that during the raid, the CBSA officials had questioned his shipments of goods to China. Soufizadeh told Congen Vancouver officials that he has shipped a number of agricultural products, such as corn and beans to China, but could not remember the name of his Shanghai contact. Despite claiming that the CBSA had seized all his business documents, Soufizadeh produced receipts and purchase orders for a number of high-value items processed by AGT, such airplane Qof high-value items processed by AGT, such airplane propellers, speed boat engines, and high-speed 1400 PCI Phototron cameras. He stated that he shipped the USD 100,000 cameras to Hyundai Industries in South Korea in an effort to allegedly help the company avoid paying customs duties. Soufizadeh said he locates clients and suppliers on the Internet. ¶5. (SBU) Soufizadeh stated that he is an ethnic Kurd and that he immigrated to Canada in 2007 with his wife and daughter. Soufizadeh has recently started a residential construction company, Home Line Projects, which is registered at 1497 Marine Dr., Suite 300, West Vancouver. Congen Montreal Visit -------------- OTTAWA 00001275 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) ConGen Montreal poloff visited the listed address for DSP Electronics, but was (1) unable to determine whether DSP Electronics is located at that address and (2) unable to determine whether anyone had received the Pilatus aircraft components from AGT. The listed address for DSP Electronics (1900 Lincoln Avenue, Montreal) is a brick, residential apartment complex. Nothing about the building suggests that a warehouse, factory, or formal office space is located within the building -- and no names appear on the building,s mailboxes. The property manager repeatedly told poloff that Canadian privacy laws prevented her from revealing the names of the building,s tenants. The property manager did, however, state that if a package had arrived for DSP Electronics without a specific suite number, the package would have ended up in her office. The manager said she did not remember receiving any such package. 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